My life isn’t perfect. In fact I don’t know anyone who has a perfect life. While at times it may seem like others do, in reality they do not. It’s easy to sit back and judge (come on, we all do it-even though we shouldn’t) the life that others around you seemingly live as better than your own. You know those families, where the parents are happily married, they have good jobs, nice houses and new cars. Their kids are good at everything, get good grades, are on sports teams, and are musically gifted to boot. If their kids are older and out of the house, they are also all happily married and are busy having kids of their own. These perfect families may even go to your church, in fact I’d venture to guess that some of you reading this might seemingly have this perfect life. But life isn’t perfect. It can’t be as long as we live in this broken and fallen world. 

On the flip side, we all know and perhaps even are one of those families who just can’t seem to catch a break. They are struggling in their marriages or perhaps even divorced, the kids are a mess both at school and outside of school, they can’t seem to either find a job, hold down a job or if they have a job, they hate it and complain about it constantly. The cars are always broken down and their homes are in a constant state of chaos. Their lives are far from perfect. 

The truth is most of us live somewhere in the middle of the perfect family and chaotic family. A few days ago I was feeling pretty down on my family and all of the -not really chaos, but more of a constant state of unsettledness we seem to be stuck in. I had just sat down for my quiet time and was getting ready to let God have it because I was angry and frustrated when the Holy Spirit said “why don’t you read your chapter in Psalms (I’ve been trying to read a chapter a day) first?”. Grudgingly I opened my Bible to Psalms 40. 

The title or heading for Psalms 40 is Thanksgiving and a cry for help. It’s almost like God read my mind that morning. Oh wait a minute, He is God and always knows what I’m thinking and feeling. I love how this Psalm begins! Verses 1-2 say “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.”. I love the Psalms, they are so honest, especially the ones King David wrote. Look at the words again and notice what David did verses what God did. David waited patiently for God. But God – turned, heard his cry and brought him up from the desolate pit! 

If you know anything about the life of David, it was far from perfect and his family – pretty chaotic. This particular Psalms indicates David wasn’t in a great place since he needed to be brought up out of a pit, and not just any pit, but a desolate pit. You know what desolate means? It means “a place deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness”.  It sounds like David was in a pretty dark place, but he never loses his hope because he knows God is faithful.

Check out the honesty in Psalms 22:1-2 “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest.” David tells God exactly how is feeling – abandoned, distant and like God isn’t hearing or listening. But the very next verse says “But you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel”. David never loses hope because he routinely recounts all that God has done for him. He flipped the script. That is exactly what God did in my heart that day. He challenged me to recount all that I have, all those people I’ve been blessed with and all that He has done for me. He turned my pity party into tears of praise, flipping the script in my mind.

As we move into this week before Thanksgiving when many have already moved onto Christmas, what if we stopped and flipped the script in our minds and hearts? What if instead of complaining about family functions and how hard it is to get everyone together, we thanked God for our family? What if instead of complaining about what we don’t have, we simply thanked God for what we do have, what He alone has blessed us with? What if we spent even one day this next week not asking for or complaining about anything, but simply being thankful for what we have been given by a God who knows us, loves us and hears us? Not sure where to begin? Might I suggest you flip open your Bible to the book of Psalms and just begin reading. I believe God will meet you in His words and touch your heart. 

Life is far from perfect. But we have a choice in how we chose to live this less than perfect life. We can stay in the pit or cry out to God, reach out to Him and then wait for Him to lift us out of the pit. Chances are we are not as far down in the pit as we believe. We just have to learn to flip the script of our minds.